My goal is to inform potential law school students and applicants of the ugly realities of attending law school. DO NOT ATTEND UNLESS: (1) YOU GET INTO A TOP 8 LAW SCHOOL ON SCHOLARSHIP; (2) YOU GET A FULL-TUITION SCHOLARSHIP TO ATTEND; (3) YOU HAVE EMPLOYMENT AS AN ATTORNEY SECURED THROUGH A RELATIVE OR CLOSE FRIEND; OR (4) YOU ARE FULLY AWARE BEFOREHAND THAT YOUR HUGE INVESTMENT IN TIME, ENERGY, AND MONEY DOES NOT, IN ANY WAY, GUARANTEE A JOB AS AN ATTORNEY OR IN THE LEGAL INDUSTRY.

Friday, May 15, 2015

TTTT Smells of Desperation: Charleston School of Law Pigs/Owners Gather Faculty and Beg Them to Ask InfiLaw to Reconsider Purchasing the Trash Pit

Leaked Video at Emergency Faculty Meeting: On May 13, 2015, Scott Baughman posted a Youtube video that was given to South Carolina Lawyers Weekly. Here is my favorite portion of the clip. Enjoy!

“The people still do not understand the dire situation of the school. It is as dire as it has ever been. With the failure to complete the Westbrook InfiLaw transaction, and InfiLaw’s decision to retreat, the school is left back in the same position it was in, in December. There are no suitors, no white knights, no group of investors, no state colleges, no private colleges – either profit or non-profit – seeking the law school. As we have said for almost two years now, InfiLaw is and always has been the only viable option for the survival of the school.” [Emphasis mine]

These words are hauntingly beautiful. The setting is beyond eerie. Hell, you can smell the desperation oozing from the pig’s lips. Keep in mind that both of these cockroaches pocketed $25 million in profits from this TTTT experiment. What “honorable” and decent “men,” huh?!?! Skid row bums have much more integrity than these two piles of waste.

Other Coverage: ATL published a Joe Patrice entry labeled “Leaked Video Of Charleston Law Board — CSOL Is S.O.L.” – on May 14, 2015. Check out the following excerpt:

“First Charleston School of Law cut its graduation festivities to save a couple thousand bucks. Then it announced that it will not accept an incoming class next year. This cocktail of events triggered speculation that the school was nearing the end of the road, but still nothing quite prepared us for the release of this video.

In stark contrast to the scene — an empty office floor, apparently purchased by the struggling law school for “expansion” — Charleston School of Law board member Robert Carr informed the Charleston faculty and staff that he (and his compatriot on the board, George Kosko) will administer law school seppuku unless by some miracle Infilaw buys them out. He even begs the staff to appeal to Infilaw to reconsider purchasing the school, all so two multimillionaires don’t have to render a bunch of staff jobless. He literally tells the staff “the burden is now on you.” It’s almost beautiful in its wretchedness.” [Emphasis mine]

These two pieces of trash have the unmitigated gall to pass the buck onto the faculty. I meant that figuratively, of course. Cockroach Robert Carr and Dung Beetle George Kosko prefer to keep the big-ass bags of cash – courtesy of the federal student loan $y$tem – to themselves. Don't take it too hard, "professors." There is no honor among thieves - and you and the administrators went along with FINANCIALLY RUINING your graduates. In a just world, both of these pigs would be strung up by their hooves.

On May 13, 2015, a Phillip Bantz piece entitled “EXCLUSIVE VIDEO – Charleston School of Law: A law school on the brink” appeared in South Carolina Lawyers Weekly. Take a look at this opening:

“A press release announcing the beginning of the end of the Charleston School of Law had been circulating on Twitter for more than an hour, but most, if not all, of the faculty members who had gathered on the gutted second floor of the BellSouth Building to hear their bosses speak were in the dark.

Two beleaguered members of the school’s board of directors, Robert Carr and George Kosko, both retired U.S. magistrates, stood in front of their wary audience on the afternoon of May 6 as Carr read from the release.
“The Charleston School of Law expects to make a formal announcement next week about whether it will accept a first-year class of students in the fall, the school announced today. We cannot in good faith enroll another class…”

But after finishing the statement that was sent to reporters, Carr delivered an ultimatum to the faculty members that had not been released publicly. He said that they could either become cheerleaders for the school’s sale to the InfiLaw System, or he and Kosko would close the private, for-profit school and everyone would lose their jobs.” [Emphasis mine]

If you are not blind, then you noticed that the swine held the meeting in an abandoned floor. It had the feel and appearance of a slimy, telemarketing boiler room. And the greedy bastards used this backdrop to make their sales pitch to faculTTTTy: “beg InfiLaw to reconsider purchasing this ABA-accredited dung heap, or you are all out on your asses!”

Conclusion: The Charle$TTTTon Chronicles continue. As you can see, the swine are reeking of desperation. These two former U.S. magi$trate$ seem to have forgotten that the South CarolinaAcademic Affairs and LicensingDivision alreadyvoted 3-1 to rejectInfiLaw’s garbage application. Why would the for-profit scum bother going through the same ordeal, and suffering further embarrassment?!?! At this point in time, both sides will dig in their heels and not back down.

Sadly, many “law professors” at this pile of excrement will likely take up the offer – and beg the InfiLaw pigs to reconsider purchasing the school. After all, the bitches and hags would rather die than engage in actual work. There simply are not that many positions that pay six figures for 4-6 hours of “productivity” each week. Have some integrity for once, “educators.” Don’t do the bidding of rodents Carr and Kosko. Instead, go out there and test the waters. See how many law firms and non-legal employers are impressed by your ability to write esoteric law review articles, regurgitate your old, dusty-ass outlines, and put your students to sleep with lengthy political rants and “war stories” – from when you practiced law for 12 minutes, more than 20 years ago.

40 comments:

Friend of mine sent this to me. A CSOL professor posted this on his facebook feed:

1. The vast majority of the Law School's revenue comes from loans subsidized by the United States Government using tax dollars. Thus, the "free enterprise" profits we are talking about are not the profits of a "free market" business.

2. Between 2010 and 2013 alone, the Board EXTRACTED 25 million dollars of profit from the Law School. That profit was largely comprised, if not entirely comprised, of money stemming from loans subsidized by the United States Government.

3. At the same time, the Board EXTRACTED several more million dollars from the School's "rainy day" fund.

4. When the School was seeking reaccreditation from the ABA, the ABA asked the Board how it would handle the potential of budget shortfalls. The Board responded that the Board would make capital contributions if necessary.

5. The Board has not voted for or made capital contributions in at least the past two years.

6. When the School announced the Asset Purchase Agreement between it and InfiLaw, students, alumni, the faculty, and the local community responded negatively.

7. As of this moment, the Board and InfiLaw have been unable to acquire the necessary regulatory approval to complete the transfer.

8. For at least a year, Robert Carr and George Kosko have repeatedly told the Faculty that the School's options were to accept InfiLaw of face dire consequences. When these statements were initially made, the "dire consequences" were framed as terminations and non-renewals. For at least the past several months, the options have been framed as "accept InfiLaw or the School will close".

9. The ostensible reason that this binary choice exists is because the School is financially unstable.

10. Over the course of at least the past year, at least one person---Ed Westbrook---has offered to purchase the School. Admittedly, the purchase price would not net Bob Carr and George Kosko the LARGE expected profits they stand to make from the InfiLaw transaction.

11. Bob Carr and George Kosko have characterized this offer---and perhaps others---as "non-viable". When pressed, however, Bob Carr has admitted---during a faculty meeting---that "he is not a rich man" and that the profits he stands to acquire through the InfiLaw transaction are a substantial portion of "his retirement". Thus, he is unwilling to donate his shares to save the School. Important note here: No one other than Ed Westbrook initially contributed money to start the School. Rather, Ed Westbrook was the only initial contributor. Ed Westbrook then GAVE shares to Bob Carr and George Kosko. Those shares HAVE ALREADY netted them millions of dollars each. What we are talking about now is HOW MUCH MORE they can get.

12. Yesterday, Bob Carr told the Faculty and Staff we should call InfiLaw as soon as possible and beg it to return to the negotiating table. We were further told we should be prepared to pledge to publically support the InfiLaw transaction "with the students, the public, and in front of the Commission on Higher Education". We were told that if we were unwilling to do that, the Board intended to announce closure.

This was a hustle. This was a going concern that was looted and gutted. The Scam they did is similar to this:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/163339

Google "national heritage insurance scam".

Why does Sholam Weiss go to prison for 845 years while the Board at CSOL walks away? Higher Education is LEGALIZED THIEVERY. Privatize the gains, socialize the losses. These 2 robbed 25 MILLION and then went looking for a "fixer" - they wanted Infilaw to be that "fixer" - so they could cash out, just as Sholam plugged the 35 million accounting hole in National Heritage's books.

The Board walks after robbing 25 million and destroying countless lives while Sholam goes to the slammer for 845 years.. Profit, Non-profit.. Forget the distinctions. They are without a difference. Money is diverted to enrich and students' lives are shattered. No one ever goes down. The institution in this case likely will after being skimmed and gutted but no persons will.

The problem, of course, is that the "fixer" in this case got whacked. So there's no bailout coming.

But the point is: 25 MILLION was robbed and there will be no punishment. I do not see much difference between the 2 cases *except* one is "legal" while the other was not. Higher Education? FIRST-RATE SCAM.

Your take appears to be 100% correct. Some faculty published this (credit to LSTC):

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150515/PC1002/150519576/1023

I have no sympathy for the faculty. Their only claim to nobility is seeking to defraud their students to a slightly lesser degree than the owners sought to defraud the students and federal government.

If Charleston could not be bled, Infilaw would never have gone after it in the first place.

But, it is quite obvious that for 2 years the owners took actions that made the school insolvent with an eye to having Infilaw 'fix' as you say.

I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the owners to be sued by the federal government. They should be, but it will never happen. Now the "fixer" will be the taxpayer when Charleston cannot teach-out the current students, and they get a Closed School Discharge forgiveness of their loans.

This attitude was more or less always present, I think, looking back at my own law school experience.

These fuckers will rob and steal from anybody to get theirs. Then they come off with this High and Mighty attitude and "wait / you'll get your turn..", etc. or some other BS - which they all seem to be experts at spewing, just like the guy in the video - about something else to change the subject.

That generation fell ass-backwards into roses and success. An expanding economy, taxpayer-subsidized education which was dirt-cheap, few social problems - they managed to find some to create and exploit, etc.

By rights, a law school degree should be 8-9,000 PER YEAR if it kept pace with inflation. Not 550% more like it is. Because You-Know-Who has to make profit off the young..

And they'll take more out of S.S. than they ever put in, etc. Probably won't be there for us. Pensions from when pensions actually existed. Taxpayer-funded jobs like above, State/Fed/Local gutting up all those and garnering better-quality Gold-Plated retirement packages - which all levels have now scaled back on.

If you believe it's ever going to be "your turn", you'll end up being fleeced by these people forever, for the rest of your life. I've seen them in the workplace, I've seen them in the halls of academia. I watch them politically. It's all about More, More, More - at someone ELSE's EXPENSE. I couldn't agree more with 10:38 AM..

And, because they've blown all their money at QVC/HSN, on worthless trips, living beyond their means, half of that cohort is now crying poverty and broke. IF they couldn't do it under - I think - the best conditions, what real chance do we have?

The generation I feel sorry for is their parents. 81+ year-old folks, veterans, who are hungry and wind up calling the VA asking for food.. The Greatest Generation who actually did something with their lives and cared about real social welfare. Not their sham kids.

While it's true Boomers on the whole are annoying, selfish jackasses, there is a danger in blaming all. The same way a lot of Millennials are indeed on the whole lazy, stupid and obsessed with smartphones and stupid looking clothing.

For my short lived legal career, I was helped and guided tremendously by Boomers. Even on these comment boards, it's obvious there are several Boomers posting their experiences and warning younger generations about law school and who admit how bad things have gotten. My neighbors are Boomers and they understand how rough the legal sector is.

You aren't going to get anywhere constantly complaining and painting broad brush strokes for previous generations for all your problems. I haven't seen any jackass Boomers on these comments that have denied the state of legal education and the current economy. So it's on you for just bringing it up and ranting.

The truth is the US economy is unfair to most people. It is driven by the elites, the best outcomes are generally to the PPC especially in law. Beyond that, a few tokens are allowed through to a certain level. But most Boomers also don't fit those descriptions.

Dividing ourselves plays right into that tiny elite cabal's hands. It would be damn near impossible for them to fend off a united 99% of the population. So they do their best to fragment people, and mission accomplished that's what has happened.

The students were fucked whether Infilaw bought or not. The profs and administrators are the ones moving from the winner to loser column. Given the letter they joined together to write I guess they are looking forward to moving to Nebraska to practice. Personally I think the new lives of these law prof going from the supine world of low ranked academia to the blood thirsty world of shitlaw would be a great reality tv show.

Here are the Charle$TTTTon Sewer of Law profiles for both of these greedy turds:

“The Honorable Robert S. CarrRetired U.S. Magistrate Judge, District of South CarolinaFurman University, B.S., 1967University of South Carolina, J.D., 1971

Prior to being appointed to the Court in 1975, Judge Carr practiced law in Columbia, S.C., served as law clerk to Judge Robert F. Chapman, U.S. District Judge for the District of South Carolina, and was legal assistant to Sen. Strom Thurmond. Judge Carr enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1968 and retired as a Colonel in 1997. He received numerous awards and medals, including the Legion of Merit. He has served in the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association, as President of the Federal Magistrate Judges Association, Chairman of the National Conference of Special Court Judges, and on the Judicial Resources Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States.

The Honorable George C. KoskoRetired U.S. Magistrate Judge, District of South CarolinaUniversity of South Carolina, B.S., 1966University of South Carolina, J.D., 1971University of Colorado, National Institute of Trial Advocacy, 1972

Prior to appointment to the Court in 2000, Judge Kosko was in private practice from 1975-2000. He also served as the first Family Court Solicitor in South Carolina and Assistant Solicitor for Richland County. In addition to being selected for inclusion in the first Who's Who in American Law, Judge Kosko also lectured at the University of South Carolina School of Law on trial issues and ethics and has delivered many papers for the American Association of Airport Executives, the Southeastern Aviation Managers Association, the North Carolina Aircraft Association, and the South Carolina Aeronautics Commission. Judge Kosko is a member of the American Bar Association, District of Columbia Bar Association, South Carolina Bar Association, American Judicature Society, Lawyers/Pilots Bar Association, National Transportation Safety Board Bar Association, Aviation Insurance Association, and the Defense Research Institute.”

Yes, “serving” as legal assistant to Strom Thurmond must have made his mother very proud. After all, Strom Thurmond was such an upstanding citizen, right?!?! Then again, despite his vile segregationist rhetoric, he did father an out of wedlock child with a black woman.

Regarding Kosko, perhaps the swine merely wanted to purchase more private aircraft with his portion of the loot. Maybe he got tired of seeing how much money his rich friends/owners made, relative to him. By the way, why would such a “prominent” politician in a black robe mention the following on his profile: giving a guest lecture to law students on “ethics,” and delivering many papers for airport executives and aircraft managers?

Ah yes.. The Army Reserves. This is how you play the "Get Out of Jail Free" card if you don't want to do a tour in Vietnam - you know, in the Real Army..

I mean, why bother? Just run off to Canada like some of the other clowns in your cohort did. But, to be fair, I guess Canada is a bit too far "North" from a place like South Carolina. Perhaps too far away from the all-important "network", etc..

The administration is noticeably hostile towards students from day-one. It's as if they recognize the fact that they need us there so that we can pay them tuition, but they resent us because we could potentially fail the bar soon and threaten the school's ABA accreditation.

Most of the senior faculty and administration are in their mid-sixties or older. I am almost entirely convinced by this point that they no longer care about their students. The professors are all burned out. They rarely answer emails, and if you ask them a question after class, they direct you to their TA's. They seem to only care about trying to keep the ABA-accreditation boat afloat for five more years until they reach retirement age. At that point, the school will likely sell out to a company like InfiLaw and the senior faculty will walk away with sweet bonuses, leaving the rest of us jackass toiler-tiers saddled with enormous debt and a worthless education.

In conclusion, my law school knows it cannot produce enough lawyers to justify its existence, so it's hanging on for a few more years until its current ownership sells out and moves to the bahamas.

I think the faculty are under-criticized in this situation. The owners of the school are morally repugnant, yes, but the bottom line is that in our society, if you own a business and you want to suck out the profits and close it down, you can. Setting aside for a moment the issues with federal student loans as the source of the profits, these guys are doing exactly what we would expect rational economic actors to do in this situation.

When I read that op-ed by the faculty, I hear the same attitude of being entitled to a job making lots of money doing almost nothing that I have heard from almost every employee that I have ever had. If they want to keep their jobs, they should do something for their employer that actually creates value.

Any action that brings economic cash to the owner is 'rational', civil society be damned. Oh...and employees must demonstrate 'value' to their employer. Well...we even have an employer, what value does he give?The law school scam is a scam in end-stage capitalism, when a 'virtuous' employer can only make more dough off the back's of his employees through scamming the public, often with gov money,corrupted through campaign contributions.

Greedy, arrogant, self-entitled humans will steal when they can, regardless of age.

(The OED indicates that the proper spelling is "guuna.") (I must state that I find many grammatical, syntactical, and spelling errors from law students and graduates, and I wonder if they are whom the represent their status as such.)

Jesus, really, man?! I like you, but I have to say there is no grammatical convention for the slang of "going to" - the culturally acceptable memes are "gunna" or "gonna." I prefer "gunna" because I think it more closely approximates the sound of the spoken word than "gonna" does. Yeah, I love rap.

Not all Boomers gunna Boom, Cincinnatus (38 year solo), but the majority do, and have. Which is why the young’uns find themselves in the predicament (aka fucked) that they do.

You're a left coast Boomer, and I am a right Coast chick.

Still, if you were in my neck of the woods, I'd buy you a Hamms in a heartbeat, if not a Natty Bo, and heed all your wisdom, despite the fact that it's too late for me.

Back on May 7, 2015, Paul Campos posted a Lawyers, Guns & Money entry entitled “Law school owners pocket $25 million in profits, won’t $21,000 for commencement reception.” Check out this segment:

“The Charleston School of Law, a for-profit ABA-approved school in South Carolina, appears to be on its last legs, as the the two men who own the school have announced they might not enroll an incoming class this fall.

As a parting gift to the students who have paid these gentlemen tens of millions of dollars over the last three years, George Kosko and Robert Carr have decided they aren’t going to pony up for a commencement reception this week:

If Charleston School of Law’s newest graduates want better than Ramen noodles at their commencement reception, they and their friends are going to have to pay for it.

The troubled law school’s two-member board cut the traditional post-commencement reception from its budget this year — despite pulling in $25 million in profit from the school between 2010 and 2013. The move has pushed student and alumni groups to take up a collection to cover the cost, said Matt Kelly, president of the Student Bar Association.

He and others, through Dean Andy Abrams, have asked board members and owners George Kosko and Robert Carr to reconsider holding the reception, which last year cost $21,000. “We’ve given them two weeks to stand up and do the right thing, but they haven’t,” Kelly said.”

In the final analysis, the cockroaches got their bags of cash – and the students and graduates can go to hell, as far as the pigs are concerned. Yes, these “men” truly are performing a “public service,” right?!?! Too bad they don’t voluntarily jump out of a 10th story window, for their next act.

Co-owner: The good news is your fired. The bad news is all of you've got just one week to regain your jobs. Only one thing counts in this life, get infilaw to sign on the line which is dotted. Infilaw doesn't walk on the lot lest they want to buy. They're sitting out there waiting to give us their money.

Faculty: But Mr. Co-owner....

Co-owner: you see this watch? I made 12.5 million off this school. You see pal, that's who I am and you're nothing. You want to work here, close! You know what you'll be saying, bunch of losers sitting around in a bar, I use to be a law professor, tough racket.

Watching that video, you can see just how utterly far academia has fallen. It's no longer about enriching students and equipping them for the world.

It's just money. It's a self-serving financial industry. They are only worried about golden parachutes it that video. It's abhorrent. Not a word about the countless students who are financially ruined.

Seriously, how do these people sleep at night? I'm convinced that most law school admin/profs are sociopaths. There's no other explanation.

Agreed. Most sociopaths flee from the real world because, well, they are sociopaths and can't function with others who don't share their malady (and are therefore not "harmed" by it, at least in a manner of speaking).

I used to give academics the benefit of the doubt and put it down to "eccentricity." At least they were (allegedly) putting out good work product and advances, or something, in the sciences, medicine, economics, philosophy, etc.

After law school, I discovered that "eccentric" is just a euphemism for "sociopathic."

On May 19, 2014, Post and Courier reporter Jeremy Borden wiped his ass with this commode, in an article entitled “South Carolina committee rejects InfiLaw purchase of Charleston School of Law.” Check out this opening:

“The sale of the Charleston School of Law to a private, Florida-based company should be stopped, as the company's lower academic standards and lawsuits against it provide concerns about the company's health and the direction it would take the school, a majority of members on a state higher education panel said Monday.

The Committee on Academic Affairs and Licensing, part of the state's Commission on Higher Education, voted 3-1 to reject recommending a license for InfiLaw to operate the law school. The private, for-profit law school provider has sought to buy Charleston's 10-year-old private law school since last summer over the objection of many alumni and faculty.

The committee's rejection surprised students and alumni who had lobbied against the sale. The company needs an approval for a license from the state's Commission on Higher Education. Monday's vote will act as a guideline for the full, Higher Education Commission when it is expected to decide the issue on June 6.

A majority of the committee agreed with Natasha Hanna, a Myrtle Beach attorney who serves on the commission, that lawsuits against two of the company's schools could pose problems for the entity down the road.

Faculty members at the company's school in Arizona sued InfiLaw for breach of contract and defrauding students. Its school in Florida was sued for misrepresenting claims about its students' success and job placement.

Kevin Hall, InfiLaw's Columbia-based attorney, said those lawsuits were "baseless allegations" and were working their way through the court system. The initial suit in Arizona has been thrown out.”

As we all know, InfiLaw is only involved in “higher education” SOLELY for the money. However, the cockroaches who own and operate Charle$TTTTon Sewer of Law are no better. The “professors” at this stink pit also DO NOT GIVE ONE DAMN about the students or graduates. The American Bar Association rats likewise don’t care about the pupils. Do you get the picture yet, Lemming?!?! Or is your brain shunt not working correctly?!

You have to laugh at the SBA lemming's reaction: "It's not fair!!!! Those mean guys won't pay for our graduation ceremony!"

After 3 years he should have realized these admins, board members, and faculty only care about one thing - cash. Who knows, maybe Charleston Law gave the other TTT's a great idea, cancel graduation and pocket the savings.

Objective

This blog is maintained by a graduate of a third tier law school. My goal is to educate prospective law students about the perils of obtaining a legal education. There are many pitfalls - the debt load, the oversupply of lawyers, the fact that there are not enough legal jobs to satisfy nearly 45,000 annual law graduates, and the reality that the majority of law school graduates will end up with low-paying jobs upon completion of their "legal studies."